Re: Wake-up levels for auditory warning?

[Stephen McAdams <Stephen.McAdams@xxxxxxxx>]

>Does anyone know how loud a sound needs to be to *wake up* the intended
>recipient (the sort of "smoke detector in the middle of the night"
>scenario)?

Just an anecdotal remark that points to a humongous individual differences
problem in this kind of work. Our bedroom is on the 2nd floor of our house.
I will wake up in the middle of the night if my baby daughter coughs once on
the 1st floor, even when I have yellow foam earplugs that attenuate about
25 dB. A duet of earthquake and air raid siren would not wake my wife who does
not (need to) wear earplugs to sleep. If anybody publishes waking thresholds
as general data, I wouldn't believe them for a second.

Stephen McAdams
IRCAM, 1 place Igor-Stravinsky, F-75004 Paris, France
smc@ircam.fr    http://www.ircam.fr/
tel: (33 1) 4478-4838, fax (33 1) 4478-1540